Best Guitar Equalizer Settings

While recording and mixing guitar, sometimes you need to adjust the sound to make it sit perfectly in the mix; this is where the equalizer comes in. Whether your guitar is too muddy or boomy, getting lost in the mix, clashing with another instrument or recording, or has unwanted noise (such as low end, hum, hiss, or rattling), you can use an equalizer to remove bad qualities from your guitar recordings and bring out and enhance the positive qualities.

By knowing the best guitar equalizer settings you can get your electric guitar and acoustic guitar sounding strong and clear in your mix. Here is our guide to the best guitar equalizer settings...

Electric Guitar

For the best guitar equalizer settings for an electric guitar, start off by filtering everything below 80 Hz, as there will be mostly hum and other unwanted noises in those frequencies. If you want to remove some boom and increase the clarity of your electric guitar, roll off the frequencies below 100 Hz. To add fullness and increase the body of your electric guitar, boost the frequencies around 100-250 Hz. 250-800 Hz are the frequencies that can cause your electric guitar to sound muddy, so decrease frequencies in that range if you are having that problem. Additionally, cut around 800 Hz if you need to get rid of a tinny (cheap-sounding) sound from your guitar.

1-6 kHz are the frequencies that really cut through the mix. Increase the frequencies around 1 kHz to bring out the main body of your electric guitar; however, if it is sounding dull, then cut around there to remove any dullness. Boost around 3 kHz to add more attack and edge; alternatively, if you want your electric guitar to be more transparent in your mix, cut around there. Boost the frequencies around 3-5 kHz to increase crispness and additional attack. Boost around 5 kHz to add brightness, but if your electric guitar is sounding thin, then cut around there to soften the sound and minimize thinness.

Most electric guitars and guitar speaker cabinets roll off pretty steeply after 4-6 kHz, so you can filter everything above that if you're satisfied with how your electric guitar sounds. However, if your tone happens to go past that frequency range, you can try boosting around 6-8 kHz to add presence and clarity.

Hey what about the acoustic guitar? What are the best settings for the acoustic guitar? Visit our site to find out and to read our full Best Guitar Equalizer Settings article.

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